The grandfather of the first Duke of Luynes was Léon d'Alberti, who changed the family name to Albert and married Jeanne de Ségur of Marseille in 1535. From the marriage he received a dowry of 10,000 livres and the fief of Luynes in today's départementBouches-du-Rhône in Provence. His son Honoré was born five years later. Léon d'Albert died in the Italian Wars.[5]Honoré d'Albert (1540–1592), seigneur de Luynes, was in the service of the three last Valois kings and of Henry IV of France, and became colonel of the French bands, commissary of artillery in Languedoc and governor of Beaucaire.[1] Honoré d'Albert had three sons:
Charles (1578–1621), a favorite of Louis XIII, became the first Duke of Luynes in August 1619. He had recently purchased the Comté de Maillé on the Loire, about 10 miles west of Tours, and the king erected Maillé into the Duchy of Luynes, which included about 50 parishes and extended to the western wall of Tours and around it on three sides.[6]
After the death of the first Duke of Luynes in 1621, his widow, Marie de Rohan remarried to Claude of Lorraine, Duke of Chevreuse, from whom she acquired in 1655 the duchy of Chevreuse, which she gave to Louis Charles d'Albert, her son by her first husband, in 1663. From that point forward, the title of Duke of Chevreuse and Duke of Luynes was borne by the eldest sons of the family of Luynes, which also inherited the title of Duke of Chaulnes on the extinction of the descendants of Honoré d'Albert in 1698. The branch of the dukes of Luxemburg-Piney became extinct in 1697.[1][7]
Several members of the family of Albert were distinguished in letters and science, including Louis Charles d'Albert, 2nd Duke of Luynes, who was an ascetic writer and friend of the Jansenists, and Honoré Theodore d'Albert, 8th Duke of Luynes, who was a writer on archaeology. Others include:[1]
^Kettering, Sharon (2008). Power and Reputation at the Court of Louis XIII: The Career of Charles d'Albert, duc de Luynes (1578–1621). Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN978-0-7190-8998-5.
Griffet (1758). Histoire du regne de Louis XIII, roi de France et de Navarre. Paris.
V. Cousin (1861–1863). "Le Duc et connetable de Luynes". Journal des savants.
B. Zeller (1879). Etudes critiques sur le regne de Louis XIII: le connetable de Luynes, Montauban et la Valteline. Paris.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
E. Pavie (1899). La Guerre entre Louis XIII. et Marie de Medicis. Paris.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Lavisse (1905). Histoire de France. Vol. vi.2. Paris. pp. 141–216.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)